Never Say Die
by piper-rox
Summary: For some unknown reason there's a drug gang after Steph. Dickie is back in her life and looking for revenge and she still has the same age old problem of being in love with two men. Rated mainly to be safe. Please R&R... Just warning Cupcake story
1. The beginning

Disclaimer: I do not owe any of these characters.

A/N this is my first Stephanie Plum fanfic, so please be gentle, although I always accept constructive criticism.

Please review and also i've been thinking about incorporating some paragraph's that are in other character's POV. Let me know if you think it's a good idea.

_My name is Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter extraordinaire._

_Well maybe that's not the entire truth. I've had a few problems in the past, mainly with my cars, which tend to catch on fire every now and then. I have been working as a bounty hunter for a couple of years now. That's how I met my on-again, off-again boyfriend Joe __Morelli__. He's one of Trenton's finest and I must say he defiantly has one of the finest arses in Trenton as well. However upon meeting up with __Morelli__, I also met up with my friend and mentor Ranger, or as I sometimes call him, Batman. Ranger and I have a strange relationship, most of the time I'm not sure whether he actually loves me or just wants me in bed. Joe loves me too, but in an entirely different way; he wants to marry me. At this point in time I wasn't quite sure I was ready to settle down but I'd have to decide soon enough._

_It was raining when I woke up at 11, I stared out the window I didn't really like the rain, especially when I knew I'd probably end up on my ass on the wet pavement. But never the less I got up, had a shower and tried to do my hair and make-up as best I could._

_While I was in the shower the phone rang multiple times so I let it go to the answering machine. The first message was from my mother._

"Stephanie It's your mother, I haven't seen you in a while so I want you to come to dinner tonight, I've already rung Joseph, and he said it's fine. Be here by 6... I'm making pineapple upside down cake for desert" she said and disconnected.

_My Mother knew I wouldn't miss pineapple cake. _

_The second was from Joe, _"Hi Cupcake, your mother just called so I'll pick you up at 5:45 for dinner, be ready"

_I felt a funny feeling in my stomach when I heard Joe's voice, but since it was too early for me to think about my feeling; I just put it down to me being hungry._

On the way into the office I stopped by the bakery to pick up some donuts for breakfast. When I arrived at Vinnie's bail bond office I heard some screaming inside. Curiously I went inside and found my asshole of an ex-husband standing in the office screaming at Lula, who was an ex-ho.

"Dickie! What the hell are you doing here?" I yelled as I walked through the door and realised who it was.

"I'm just here to see you Steph" he said it nicely, which caught me by surprise.

It was no secret in the burg that our divorce was anything but calm. This was mainly because of the act that resulted in the divorce. I caught Dickie banging Joyce Barnhardt on my kitchen table when I came home from work early one day.

"Yeah right you piece of shit, what do you want?" I asked my voice was dripping with venom now that I'd recovered from my temporary lapse in judgement.

"Well" he said now his voice had the same edge as mine, I guess he figured there was no point faking niceness if I wasn't going to fall for it. "There's something that wasn't dealt with during our divorce because i didn't think there was any reason, but I've just realised recently that you're more of an annoying bitch then I thought you were."

"Gee thanks Dickie" I said sarcastically "But I don't have any idea of what you're talking about"

Of course I knew exactly what the dickhead was going on about. It was a safety deposit box that had only been in his name, but when I discovered it I decided that since we were married it should have my name on it too. At the time I was a bit angry with him for some reason so I had forgotten to tell him about it and then the fateful day with Joyce came around and I put it out of mind forever. The box hadn't been brought up during our divorce because I forgot about it and obviously Dickie didn't think I knew and had wanted to keep it that way. I guess now he needed it and because the box was in the highest security bank available he was going to need my permission to do whatever it was he wanted to do. But judging by the way he had treated me this morning already I wasn't going to let him touch anything in that stupid box yet.

"Don't play dumb Steph, even though i know you're good at it" Dickie sneered "I know you know what I'm talking about and you have no idea what you've got yourself into"

"I don't care, I'm going to make you suffer at least a little bit longer" I shot back at him.

"Any new FTA's?" I asked Connie who had just been standing there watching me and Dickie.

"Yep, there's one here for quite a bit of money" She replied

"Great I'll take it"

"You wanna come along for the ride Lula?"

"You betcha skinny white ass I do" _Just like Lula_

I stalked out of the office before Dickie could say anything. Lula gave him her best death stare and followed me out.

My phone rang while I was in the car.

"Cupcake?"

It was Joe.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I'm just letting you know that i might be running a little bit late tonight, so if I'm not at your apartment by quarter to 6, go without me and I'll meet you there"

"Ok, but try not to be late, dad hates it when his food is late" I said with a laugh

Joe laughed as well "I'll try" and disconnected.

"So what's up with this FTA?" Lula asked once I was off the phone.

I opened the file and read.

"His name is Ted Barry and he's wanted for B & E, it looks like it shouldn't be too hard."

Lula and I pulled up a little bit down the street from the FTA's house. We just sat there for a couple of minutes contemplating how it was going to go down. Judging by my record, probably not well.

"Are we going to do this or what?" Lula asked impatiently.

"I suppose"

"Right then, get your skinny ass out of the car and go get him"

_Excuse me? _"What? You're not coming?"

"No way, I'm not ending up on my butt this early in the day"

_I shook my head and got out of the car. _"If you hear anything funny, you'd better come and help"

"Of course"

_I don't know why I bothered to bring Lula with me, most of the time she was worse at this job then I was. I guess I just liked a bit of company._

_I walked up Ted's driveway, took a deep breath and knocked..._

"What'd ya want?" _I heard someone yell from inside._

"Could you open the door please?" I yelled back

_I could tell that this probably wasn't going to well._

_The door swang open and I was faced by a tall, skinny man with a rough looking face and a scar that split is left eyebrow in half._

_I took a step back from the door and introduced myself._

"My name's Stephanie Plum, I work for Vinnie's Bond Agency and you missed your court date. I need to take you downtown to reschedule." _Sometimes this line worked, but usually only on weak criminals when there charges weren't severe._

Ted started laughing. "As if I'm going with you"

"You just need to reschedule, it won't take too long"

"You know what wouldn't take too long?" He asked with a sinister smile. "For me to pull this shotgun from behind the door and pull the trigger in your pretty little face"

_Well that just about did it for me. I was hungry and there was no way I was taking on a crazy guy with a shotgun._

"Right well maybe I'll leave it for now" And I hightailed it out of there; reaching Lula in record time.

"Jesus, what's got you in such a hurry?" Lula asked

"Oh nothing... He just didn't want to reschedule" I said gasping for air. "How about we get some lunch?"

"Sure why not" She gunned the engine and took off.

_Crap, I thought, I really need a new job. I was pretty sure that something was going to happen and I'd probably end up dead for some stupid reason._

After lunch we decided to go after an easier FTA, maybe one that would pull a shotgun out.

"Ok" I said to Lula, "Let's go pick up Annie Long."

"What's she up for?"

"Umm, looks as though she assaulted her boyfriend at the time"

"Probably deserved it" Lula replied

_Maybe... I just hope she didn't want to take out any leftover anger on me._

"Right, hopefully this time I'll bring her back, but just in case be ready to make a speedy get away" I told Lula as I prepared myself for another disaster.

_I knocked on the door just as I did last time. But this time it opened straight away showing me a pretty looking girl with blonde curly hair that hung neatly around her face. Bitch, I wish I had neat curls._

"Annie Long?" I asked cautiously

"Yeah"

"My name is Stephanie, you missed your court date and I'm here to take you...""OHHH... You're a bounty hunter!"

"Well I'm an apprehension agent"

"What ever... I don't think I want to go with you" and with that she pushed me into the bushed that were sitting in front of the window.

_Shit, there was no way I was letting two skips get away in one day. I jumped up and chased her down the street. After about 2 minutes I was puffing significantly but I was catching up to her. _

_Finally, after chasing her around the street twice and getting hit with the contents of a garbage bin I caught up to Annie. I tripped her to the ground and put my cuffs on her. I stood up and felt pretty proud of myself; even though I had a couple of nasty scratches on my arms and I smelled like a trash can._

"Geez... you know you didn't have to run like that" I said as I dragged her towards the car.

"Yeah i did actually, people already think I'm a crazy bitch"

_No kidding __I__ though. _"Oh yeah? Why is that?"

"Because the only reason I beat the shit out of my worthless boyfriend was because he called me fat... and I had PMS"

"Ha he deserved it"

"Yeah that's what I thought too" she answered as she got in the car.

The ride to the station was pretty uneventful; we all just rode in silence. When we got there I took Annie in and ignored the comments of the other cops about the smell; I collected my body receipt and left.

After chasing Annie around the street I desperately needed a shower and a nap.

I thought 2 o'clock in the afternoon was as good a time as any to go to bed so that's exactly what I did. When I woke up it was 5:15 and i had a sudden panic attack as i remembered i had to be at my mother's hours at 6. I quickly jumped in the shower again, then did my hair and make-up; as it turned out the look wasn't really what i was going for but it would have to do.

As I finished my make-up I heard the sound of breaking glass in the kitchen.

"Joe?"

No answer

_Shit_

_Of course, a person breaking into my apartment wasn't exactly abnormal, but that doesn't mean that __i__ don't almost mess myself every time it happens. I checked my clock, 5:44, Joe would be here at any moment so I decided to just play it safe and __i__ stayed in my bedroom until __i__ heard his fantastic voice._

"Cupcake?"

"I'm in the bedroom" I replied loudly

I heard him move through my apartment and heard him stop at where i suspected was probably the kitchen at the scene of the broken glass.

"Steph... Why is there glass all over your floor?"

Slowly I made my way out of the bedroom. In the whole minute I had been waiting for Joe I had tried my best not to cry, but I knew in doing so I'd probably gone all red and blotchy.

"What's wrong? You didn't break this glass did you?"

I didn't trust myself to speak so i just shook my head.

"Crap!"

He quickly took me in his arms and held me tight.

"I don't want you to stay here tonight... Please come home with me after your parents house. I'll get a team in here to see if they can find any prints."

"OK" was all i could really manage.

I quickly went into my bedroom and gathered a few things I'd need for the night and tomorrow.

"We're running late for dinner" I said as Joe rushed me out the door.

I was lucky that Joe was a cop and every other cop in the city knew his car. Because on the way to dinner he broke almost every traffic law possible in the short journey. We managed to arrive at the house at 6:02.

My mother was waiting at the front door.

"Quickly" she said "You're father is waiting"

Joe and I rushed through the door and quickly sat down at the dinner table. My dad served himself first as always and then the rest of us had our food.

"I'm going to the Mary Angelo viewing tonight, I really hope it's an open casket" Grandma Mazar said between mouthfuls of potato.

I saw my mother made a cross over her chest. I knew if it wasn't an open casket Grandma Mazar would find some kind of way to get it open anyway.

"Didn't Mary die in a car crash?" Joe asked

My mother's face contorted with horror.

"Yeah, I want to see how well she's been patched up" Grandma said with a big smile.

No one said anything. Joe was trying really hard not to laugh and my mother made another cross.

My father mumbled something into his plate which sounded a lot like "crazy old woman"

"You know Stephanie I was speaking to your cousin Kathy today and she said that there's a job open at the dentist's surgery for a receptionist." My mother told me, "Maybe you should consider it."

Morelli raised his eyebrows at me and I sent him a glare.

"Mum, I like the job I'm going now"

"Yeah Stephanie's a kickass bounty hunter" Grandma said

This time Joe couldn't keep his laughter to himself. I send him another glare and he tried to control himself.

My mother also added "You know Kathy has just got engaged as well"

_Crap here it comes..._

"When are you two going to get married?"

"Mum do we have to do this now?" I asked exasperated

"I hear that women only like to get married to men that are good in the sack" Grandma said as she joined the conversation. "Joseph, maybe you're not doing something right, maybe you should see someone about that."

This time it was my time to laugh. Lucky for Joe his pager went off so he could avoid a conversation about his sexual ability, although his ability has never been under question.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Plum could I please use your phone?" He said with a polite smile.

"Of course Joseph" He got up and left.

"He's such a polite young man"

I nearly choked on my food, "Did mum just say that a Morelli was polite?" I never thought I'd hear her ever say that.

"So about marriage..."

"Mum, seriously I don't want to have this conversation right now"

Truth be told I really didn't know why I couldn't marry Joe. Sometimes I wanted to but then other times I wanted to keep my independence. Joe returned to the table with his cop face on.

_Crap; that usually meant something was wrong._

"You alright?"

"I think we should get take-away desert" Joe said

"That's fine I'll put the cake in a bag for you" my mother said sweetly

Joe just smiled and stood up from the table. 5 minutes later we had cake in a bag and were on our way out the door.

The drive home was increasing quite, until finally I couldn't stand it anymore.

"Joe?"

"Yeah cupcake"

"Are you going to tell me what's happened?"

He sighed heavily. "Can we please wait till we get inside?"

I agreed only because we were 2 minutes away from the house.

Once inside Joe sat me down on the couch and sighed again.

"Joe, please stop sighing you're making me nervous"

"Good Steph you should be nervous, I don't know how you've done it but somehow you've got yourself caught up with drug gangs."

"huh?"

"The team I sent to check out your apartment after we left found prints and a note... The prints matched a man that it a known hitman for the Vice Lords"

"Shit!"

Joe got up and started walking around the room.

"What are we going to do?" I asked cautiously, I could tell he was pretty upset.

"I want to lock you in the house and not let you out until every single one of the gang members are in prison"

I looked at him incredulously.

"I know, I know, but I just want to keep you safe."

_Hang on a second... why was Joe taking this so well? Usually he would have let his Italian temper take over by now._

"Why are you being so calm about this?"

He smiled at me. "I think I'm beginning to realise that no matter how hard I try there's no point trying to get you to do something I know you won't do" he said kissing me on the temple.

"Wow" I said clearly surprised

"But I'll need you to cooperate with all the police investigations"

I pulled him close to me. "You know... I really like this new, improved you"

He laughed "I thought you might... I've been thinking about what your grandma said..."

I looked at him and then laughed. "As if... But... Maybe you should remind me of your talents just in case"

"I think I can do that" he said and his eyes turned into the beautiful liquid chocolate they did when we was aroused and we quickly rushed upstairs.


	2. Chapter 2, Part A

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters!

* * *

Chapter 2, Part A

I groaned and rolled over to look at the clock. _Shit 6:30 what am I doing awake?_

I rolled back over and caught sight of Joe. He looked so damn sexy when he was sleeping. I moulded by body around his and he sub-consciously did the same and I fell back to sleep. The next time I woke up it was 9:00 and Joe had left for work already. I had a funny feeling in my stomach but I decided to leave it until I had eaten breakfast. I slowly made my way downstairs into the kitchen and found a note from Joe.

Morning Cupcake

I had to leave for work early and I might not be home till late sorry.

Don't forget about my mother's surprise birthday party tomorrow night, I'd appreciate it if you could pick up a gift for her. Don't worry she'll love anything you get.

Don't wait up

I love you, Joe

I felt another funny feeling when I read that Joe wouldn't be home tonight. _Geez Steph __get__ a grip._

I rummaged through the fridge and found nothing good to eat so I decided I'd stop by the bakery and get some Boston Cremes on the way to the office. I walked back up the stairs and took a shower; then proceeded to try and control my hair. I eventually succeeded to an extent and then put on the minimum amount of make-up for a jersey girl to wear and headed out of the house.

I hopped into my latest car, which was a really cute little blue Corolla. Since my cars tend to get blown up I tried not to get too attached, but I'd had it for a few months now so I was feeling pretty confident.

After I had my Boston Creams I headed to the office where I found, Lula, Connie and to my surprise Ranger.

"Yo Babe"

"Yo yourself, I thought you were in Miami until Tuesday" (It's Thursday)"Everything went smoothly so I came back early"

_Just like Ranger keep to the minimum possible_

"Cool"

"I gotta go Babe"

"Bye"

_That was pretty much how it was with me and Ranger, just short conversations that didn't really mean anything and he never told me what he was doing or where he was going. _

I turned my focus back to Connie and Lula who were fanning themselves and staring at the spot where Ranger had stood.

I laughed, "Any new FTAs?""Just one, but I wouldn't recommend it to you"

"Who is it?"

Joe's POV

"Roger Matthews"

"Christ"

"Otherwise known as Ice... Are you alright Joe?" The uniformed cop asked since Joe had sat down in his chair heavily and put his head between his knees.

"Shit... yeah I'll be fine just give me a few minutes on my own"

_What on earth has she gotten herself into this time? This isn't good._

_Okay I've got to calm down and not panic, it will just make her angry._

Knock, Knock

"Yep"

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah... have you got any other information for me?"

"Uh not really" he said slowly knowing full well that this would piss Joe right off. "Except that he's FTA after being picked up for B&E"

"Breaking and entering?... That seems way too simple... Who bonded him?"

"Vinnie's..."

"Oh crap... I've gotta go I'll call you later, thanks for the info Jeremy"

"Sure no problem" he yelled to Joe who was already running down the hall.

_Oh for god's sake please don't let Connie give Steph his file!_ _I've got to call her._

_Come on pick up, please. _"Steph?"

"Hey Joe what's up?"

"Are you still at the office?"

"Yeah, just picking up some new FTA's"

_Oh shit _"Anyone interesting?"

"Nah there was only one and Connie said it wasn't a good idea for me to take him anyway"

_Stay calm... _"huh why's that?"

"Something about him being dangerous... doesn't matter anyway, so have you got lunch plans?"

"I'll meet you at Pino's in 20 minutes?"

"Sure see you then"

_Ok so at least she hasn't taken on him as a FTA._

20 minutes later Steph's POV

_This is turning into a really weird week. Let's think about this for a second. Why would Joe be so interested in what FTAs I'm picking up? One of them is probably involved in one case he's working on__, why can't he just tell me straight away?_

When I arrived at Pino's Joe was already sitting at the table.

I walked in, gave him a kiss on the cheek and sat down.

"So..." I said "Do you want to tell me why you were so interested in FTAs?"Joe sighed "Steph we have a suspect..."

"Yeah..."

Silence

"Come on Joe... I don't need you to protect me, I can look after myself"

"Yeah I know, but I just wish you'd let me protect you sometimes" He sighed.

I smiled at him. _Aww__ he's so cute._

"So we don't know much but we think the prints match a hitman that goes by the street name Ice."

I gave him a blank stare.

"His real name is Roger Matthews"

_Oh shit. I think I'm going to be sick_

"Steph, are you alright?"

"No... Connie told me about this guy... He was an acquaintance of one of her cousins."

"Here have some water" Joe put his arms around my shoulders and handed me a glass of water. "Steph... just look at me for a moment. Do you know which cousin of Connie's it was? We may be able to get some information out of him."

I looked at Joe, straight into his chocolate brown eyes. "He..he's dead"

"That's..wh..why Connie said I shouldn't take it. She thinks that Ro..Roger killed her cousin."

* * *

A/N Sorry it's not very long this is just part A of chapter 2, but I figured I should give you something. I'm having trouble finding time to write but I'll try and update really soon.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR REVIEWING!! KEEP LETTING ME KNOW YOUR OPINIONS!!


	3. Chapter 2, Part B

Here's the other half of chapter 2!

Hopefully i'll have chapter 3 up soon. Please keep reviewing, because it helps me decide whether the story is worth continuing or not. Also if you have any suggestions please feel free to tell me!

* * *

Steph's POV

"That's..wh..why Connie said I shouldn't take it. She thinks that Ro..Roger killed her cousin."

_Oh shit! I can't handle this... _

"Here, have another sip of water" Joe said all too late, Steph had already blacked out.

When I woke up later it was dark and I could tell I was in Joe's bedroom. _What? _Then I remembered what happened. _Oh crap I fainted in __Pino'__s__ and mum will already know. _I groaned.

"Steph are you awake?" Joe called from downstairs. I could hear his footsteps coming quickly up the stairs.

"Cupcake, how are you feeling?"

"To be honest, hungry" I said, since I'd gotten over fainting in Pino's I realised that I obviously hadn't eaten my meal for the short period of time I was there.

Joe laughed and sat down next to me on the bed.

"I already spoke to your mother and told her what happened" He said with a smile.

I smiled back, _he is so sweet._

"I'll go order us some take out"

When Joe had left to go downstairs I flopped back on to the bed and stared at the ceiling.

_I'm getting too old for this._ I chucked on some of Joe's baggy trackies and an old t-shirt and went downstairs. When I got down there Joe was on the phone.

Joe's POV

"We think the gang must have had a civilian involved in order to hide their stuff, otherwise we would have found it already" The FBI agent on the phone said.

"Do you have any leads on who it might be?" Joe asked

"No, except that we think it is someone from Trenton, just we have no idea who yet"

"Why is the FBI so interested in this case?"

"Look Morelli I can't give you all the details, but because this is kind of close to home to you I'll give you what I can."

"Thanks I appreciate it."

"So what we've discovered about the Vice Lords and their leader, Dominic Obetkov, is that they have never hired a hitman to do their work, this time they have. We're thinking that this is a bit different, they probably want the job done quickly and effienctly."

_That'__s just __great__ they want Steph taken out efficiently.._

"We have informants that are telling us that something went wrong with one the Vice Lords deals and they ended up owing a lot of money to another gang... we can't get a name yet. But we think that instead of paying of money they have something here in Trenton that will get them out of debt."

_What on earth does this have to do with Steph?_

_"_We have no idea how your girlfriend is involved or why the hitman was in her apartment but we're working on some leads"

"Ok, well when you get some names run them by me I might be able to tell you if Steph has any connection to them."

"Will do"

"Thanks, Agent Morteine"

"What was all that about?" Steph asked

I stayed quiet for a moment; I wasn't sure how much I should tell her. I didn't want her to get angry about me withholding information that involved her but judging by her reaction to bad news at Pino's I didn't want to cause her too much stress.

"I was just talking to the FBI agent who's the lead on the Vice Lords' case"

She just looked at me expectantly.

"Do you really want to know all about it?"

"Of course I do!!"

Once I'd finished telling Steph all about the case she just looked tired and confused.

"What did I do to deserve this?" She wailed

I laughed. "Well... I'm sure I could make it a lot worse" I ran my hand suggestively across her stomach. I figured if I could do something to take her mind off meeting an untimely death she'd be pretty grateful.

"Oh... I guess I'm already going to hell to what does it matter?" She leaned in a kissed me and one thing pretty much led to another. I'm sure you can imagine what happened since we both woke up entangled within each other and didn't have any clothes on.

"Crap"

"What is it Joe?"

"I have like 20 messages on my phone... I can't believe I slept through them all"

Steph laughed "Well we were pretty good last night, if I do say so myself"

I smiled to myself thinking about the events of last night, I think I successfully took her mind of being killed.

I called my message bank and listened to my messages.

"Morelli! Pick up your god damn phone!... by the way its Agent Morteine"

_Geez guess I should call him back._

"Are you coming in for a shower?" Steph asked seductively from the bathroom doorway.

If Morteine's message hadn't sounded so urgent I would have jumped her in the doorway, but I really had to call him back.

"Sorry cupcake the message sounded urgent."

She sent me a sexy pout and shrugged her shoulders causing the towel to fall to her ankles. "Suit yourself" and shut the door.

_Shit! _I sighed and picked up the phone and dialled.

"Morteine, it's Morelli"

"Thank god! How long does it take for you to return your calls?"

"Sorry I was sleeping" _No need to sound so __pissed_

"Doesn't matter you need to get down here right away"

"Why? Where are you?"

"Stephanie's apartment... Or what's left of it."

"Crap, what do you mean what's left of it?""I mean that someone through a firebomb in the window and completely destroyed it"

"Oh god... what about the rest of the building? Is everyone else alright?"

"Joe what is it?" Steph asked as she came out of the bathroom wrapped only in a towel.

I hung up that phone after finding out that everyone had gotten out safely.

"Joe tell me what happened" Steph said sounding worried.

_She's not going to like this. _"Your apartment was set of fire. It looks like it was lit purposely by a fire bomb"

"Ohmigod! Did anyone get hurt?"

"No everyone got out safely"

"Oh what am I going to do? Everything was in my apartment" Steph looked seriously distressed now; I was worried that she might faint again.

"Steph, everything will be fine, a lot of your clothes are here now as well" I tried to reassure her, but I don't think it worked all that much. She lay down on the bed heavily and was looking pretty pale.

I wrapped my arms around her and put my head on her chest.

"This is so stupid... Why does it always happen to me?"

"I don't know; cupcake" I looked up at her. She'd closed her eyes. I guess she was trying to ignore what had happened. Most likely she felt guilty for the other people living in her building. That was like Steph she cared about people. Unfortunately I can't get her to care enough about me to say yes to a proposal.


	4. Chapter 3

Joe's POV

Steph cried herself to sleep a little while after I'd broken the news to her about her apartment. I just laid there thinking, with my arms wrapped around her neck._ I have to do something about this. I have to figure out why they are af__ter Steph for__ absolutely no good reason. _

"Joe?" I noticed that Steph had just woken up and her voice sounded slightly husky as she started to wake up more. As she fully woke up her face changed and I realised she remembered what had taken place about an hour earlier.

"I'm here"

"It wasn't a dream was it?" Her face looked sad and crestfallen.

"No cupcake it wasn't" I pulled her body close to mine in case tears started to fall again. "I'm going to figure this out, I promise... But I really don't think you should be chasing FTA's right now" I said the last past cautiously in case she started getting angry.

"OK... I'll go shopping with Lula"

_Whoa that was too easy. _I quickly looked at her to make sure she was telling the truth.

"But I want you to take me to my apartment first" She'd sat up now and was looking at me with determination on her face.

"It's still a crime scene"

"I know... that's why I want you to take me because I know you'll be able to get me in"

I was pretty unsure about taking Steph to her apartment, it was going to be pretty messed up if a fire bomb hit it; I didn't know if she could handle the stress all over again.

"Come on Joe, please I have to see what happened"

There was no way I could turn down her beautiful face when she looked so god damn determined to get what she wanted and besides that would be suicide anyway.

"OK... ok, I'll take you but first you let me make you breakfast in bed"

I quickly kissed her on the lips before she could object and rushed downstairs to turn the frypan on.

Steph's POV

_I think I've just worked out what that feeling is._

_"Christ__ I love him!__ I really, really love him"_

Joe's POV

"Cupcake! Breakfast is ready"

I looked at the table; I'd set it up perfectly, well at least I'd hoped so; I was just trying to make her day a little better. I saw her come down the stairs and happily saw her face light up when she saw the table all set up for breakfast.

"Your breakfast mademoiselle" I smiled, took a deep bow and pulled her chair out for her when she got down the stairs.

Steph laughed. "Why, thank monsieur" and sat down.

After breakfast we both sat in the car on the way to Steph's apartment in silence. I guess we were both just really nervous about what we were going to see. It took us about 10 minutes before we finally pulled into the carpark of Steph's building. Still it was silent, until Steph drew in a sharp breath and swore. Her apartment was on the outside facing the carpark, but it no longer resembled a room. Now it just looked like a smouldering mess. There was still smoke billowing from the ash windows. I knew that whatever had still been in the apartment would now just be smoking memories. Luckily, the fire had been pretty much contained to just the one apartment and no one else was hurt.

"Steph, are you going to be alright?" I was really concerned but I tried to not show it all, because she usually pulled away when I gave too much.

"Yeah I'm just going to go over and talk to my neighbours at little bit ok?" Her voice was slightly shaky and her face looked pale.

"Yeah, I just have to have a quick word to Morteine, then I'll take you wherever you want to go" I smiled reassuringly and she gave me a small smile back, before she turned and walked away.

I painfully drew myself away and searched the hectic carpark for Agent Morteine. Finally I found him standing next to a cop car talking into a radio. He waved when he saw me approach.

"What's the status?" I asked once I got to him.

"Well... obviously it was lit deliberately. We think that it was designed only to send a message not to kill, which is at least some good news. The team back at the FBI thinks that Steph must have something they want, because we can think of no other reason why they would be targeting her this much"

"Yeah but I have no idea what it could be"

I was just trying to think of something when I heard Steph scream.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE? YOU SLIMY PIECE OF SCUM!!"

I spun around quickly to see her standing face to face with Dickie Orr. I couldn't help but agree with Steph about what she'd just screamed. It was pretty much Dickie's fault that Steph was so reluctant to settle down, after he betrayed her so badly.

I ran over to her and stood next to her protectively.

Dickie sneered at me when I arrived. "Maybe you can talk some sense into the bitch, Morelli"

"How about you tell me what want before I escort you out of here in hand cuffs" I said trying to remain calm.

Steph on the other hand was not bothering. "Or... I could just beat the shit out him?" She said looking at me hopefully.

I laughed because she looked fully serious and Dickie knew it.

Dickie was looking nervous now. "Look Steph, I just need you to come and access the safety deposit box with me"

"What?" Steph was looking just about as confused as I was.

_Something is not right here. Why does Dickie look so scared? And why does he need to Steph to access the box as well?_

"What do you want with Steph?... and Dickie if you haven't noticed this isn't exactly the best time to be asking stupid questions, there happens to be a psycho on the loose"

When he didn't say anything something suddenly clicked in my mind.

"Shit! You've got something to do with this don't you?" Now I was really angry! This asshole was once again screwing with Steph's life.

Steph looked beyond pissed. "WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU GOTTEN ME INTO YOU IDIOT?"

"Shut the hell up you idiots! You don't know who you're dealing with!" Dickie looked scared shitless now. He was constantly looking around.

I was just about to cuff the bastard when there were some sudden movements in the bushes behind him and someone opened fire.

In the confusion I forgot all about Dickie and set my mind on protecting Steph.

"STEPH! GET ON THE GROUND" I grabbed her and pulled her down practically underneath me, so I could protect her from any bullets that might be heading her way.

Almost as quickly as the gunfire had started, it stopped. Thankfully no one had been injured, once again, which further added to our story that they were just trying to scare Steph, not actually kill her... yet.

"Are you alright?" I whispered quietly in her ear.

Her face was deathly pale. "Hey, Steph... please you're going to be alright" I held her tightly on the shoulders, trying to make sure she didn't faint.

"Please... look at me"

"I...I...thi...think..." She tried to speak, but all she could do was cry. I hugged her right to my heart, which was beating so hard I thought it might stop at any minute.

After a few minutes she pulled away slightly and lent up and kissed me lightly. "I think I'm ok"

I felt my heart slow down ever so slightly.

She looked around suddenly, "Crap the bastard's gone!" she exclaimed.

"I definitely think Dickie has something to do with this"

"I knew something was off when he came to see me the other day."

"What did he want?" I asked, a bit more harshly then I'd intended. _You__ should have to __told__ me. _

"I don't know really, something about a safety deposit box."

I stared at her blankly.

"It's a high security bank deposit box that I had put in both mine and Dickie's name when we were still married. I completely forgot about it during the divorce and he never brought it up so it was left alone. I'm guessing I wasn't supposed to know about it."

"Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"Because I didn't think anything of it" Steph said with agitation.

I could see she was getting annoyed now, I guess she has every right to.

"Ok, it doesn't matter now; we'll talk about this later. Do you want me to take you home?" I put my arms around her next to comfort her.

"My home is gone!" Her voice was high and shrill.

_Ouch. _

The hurt I felt must have shown on my face because she said, "Oh, Joe I'm sorry I didn't mean that... It's just; that was my apartment." She pulled me back into a hug.

"Come on lets go" Steph said.


	5. Chapter 4

Sorry about the massive delay... Here's just a short little chapter, there will be more soon

Joe's POV

I dropped Steph off at the office so she could take Lula shopping. The morning had worn me out so I figured I'd just go home and finish some paper work since I had no active cases at the moment. I opened the front door and saw the light blinking on the answering machine. I sighed and figured it was Steph's mum wanted to know about her apartment. Instead I got a shock.

There was a loud gunshot and then a voice came over the message "That's gonna be you or your stupid cop boyfriend at the receiving end of that shot unless you get the files we need"

And that was it for the phone call.

_Oh Crap!_

It wasn't the part about me getting shot that fazed me seeing as I got those kinds of threats all the time but it was Steph I was worried about. I called in the station so I could take the tape to the lab.

Steph's POV

I tried my best to go shopping, I really did; but I couldn't shake the sick feeling that something wasn't right in my stomach. I ended up spending the afternoon holding Lula's bags while I tried to piece together what was going on.

First Dickie wanted me to open the safe deposit box I wasn't supposed to know about, then my apartment is torched and finally just to top it off, I get shot at.

Great!

"Oi! Steph! Girl what is up with you? Usually shopping would make you happy"

Lula was in the process of buying her third pair of brightly coloured spandex when she decided to delve into my problems.

"Sorry I'm just distracted... you know because of my apartment"

"Yeh girl I understand"

"Listen I think I'm just going to go home"

"Woah didn't your apartment get blown up?"

_Oh I just called Joe's home. _My stomach all of sudden became warm and fuzzy, to tell you the truth I liked the feeling and I wanted it to stay this way. As long as I could figure out what was going on with this safe deposit box.

"Yeah..."

"Oh damn girl you're done"

"What?"

"You're almost as good as married"

I laughed and smiled at her.

We parted ways when I found my car in the carpark and she left to meet Tank. Only problem was that I found my car with a few additions that I did not sanction. The car was covered in graffiti, in colours that would have matched Lula's new spandex shorts quite nicely. To my great surprise I remained calm. I managed to call Joe with no tears and I told the center security guards who went to get the security cameras.

Joe's POV

The only thing I remember about the journey to the mall was my heart beating so fast that I thought it would stop at any minute. I hit the ground running as soon as I saw her leaning against her car, which looked like it had had better days.

"Stephanie!"

"Joseph!"

I was shocked for a second when I realised that she didn't look too worried about the car.

"Cupcake sweetie, are you ok?"

Steph smiled at me. I realised for a second that she could take care of herself and that she always could.

I walked straight up to her, bent her backwards and kissed her like I hadn't seen her in months.

"Wow!" Steph said as I pulled out of the kiss

"I'm proud of you"

"Huh? What did I do?" Steph looked so cute confused and I couldn't help but smile.

"I love you"

Before Steph could answer Mortein interrupted our perfect little moment.

"Morelli?"

"Oh hey agent Mortein... what are you doing here?"

"Someone thought it would be beneficial if I was here and... now I can see why"


End file.
